Different varieties of medical marijuana are displayed at the Belmont Shore Natural Care dispensary in 2009, before the city outlawed pot dispensaries. The City Council is considering allowing them on a limited basis. (Press-Telegram file photo)

Medical marijuana dispensaries may once again be allowed to operate in Long Beach.

Dispensaries have been essentially banned in Long Beach since 2012. The City Council voted 6 to 3 Tuesday night to request that city staffers draft an ordinance allowing dispensaries to return to the city. Councilwoman Suja Lowenthal made the motion calling for a new law.

Council members Suzie Price, Stacy Rose Mungo and Al Austin cast “no” votes after roughly three and a half hours of public and council discussion on how — or even if —City Hall should attempt to regulate medical marijuana after the state Legislature passed a trio of bills that would attempt to create California’s first comprehensive system for regulating medical marijuana.

Gov. Jerry Brown has until Oct. 11 to sign the bills into law.

Lowenthal’s request calls for an ordinance that would allow up to nine dispensaries to operate across Long Beach. Storefront dispensaries would be barred from residential zones and her request also called for buffers to ensure dispensaries operate a distance from such places as schools, parks and child care facilities.

“We need to ensure that access to youth is limited,” Lowenthal said, before adding her view that council members hold patients’ access to medical marijuana in high regard.

She also asked for an ordinance that would allow marijuana cultivation and medical marijuana deliveries to be allowed in Long Beach, and for the ordinance to be ready for a council vote as soon as possible.

Debate over what exactly qualifies as a child care facility and how buffers should apply to them occupied much of Tuesday night’s debate. Councilman Rex Richardson asked for a city law that would distinguish between child care providers on commercial corridors and those in other areas.

Lowenthal accepted Richardson’s idea. She said during the debate she was concerned setting up buffer zones around countless unlicensed care facilities would make it impossible for dispensaries to open.

Richardson also requested a city ordinance to require any medical marijuana dispensaries and cultivators to reach labor peace agreements with their employees. He also called for a policy in which any new city revenues derived from medical marijuana providers would fund youth after school programs.

Long Beach voters have already passed Measure A, a 2014 ballot measure that would allow the city to tax medical marijuana, assuming City Hall ever allows dispensaries to again operate in the open. Assistant City Attorney Mike Mais said that measure called for taxes to go to Long Beach’s general fund, so the council can’t dedicate marijuana taxes to specific programs in perpetuity.

By accepting Lowenthal’s proposal, the council rejected attempts to adopt more restrictive policies. Price asked for a law that would allow marijuana deliveries while prohibiting storefront dispensaries and Mungo sought to continue the city’s ban on medical marijuana.

Andrew Edwards is part of the Southern California News Group's business team and focuses on housing stories for the Inland Empire. He's based at the Inland Valley Daily Bulletin and has also worked for publications including the Long Beach Press-Telegram and The San Bernardino Sun. He graduated from UCLA in 2003 after studying political science and history.